“You have to be able to survive change and keep your
integrity.” Tommy Shaw

American guitarist and vocalist Tommy Shaw is best known for his
work with the rock group Styx. During his first tenure with the band
(from 1975 to 1983), he contributed to the band's most successful
releases such as “The Grand Illusion” (1977), “Pieces
of Eight” (1978), “Cornerstone” (1979) and
“Paradise Theater” (1981) as well as wrote the US hit
singles “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” (#29
US), “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” (#21), “Sing
for the Day” (#41), “Renegade” (#16). Shaw left
Styx to begin his solo career in 1983. To date, he has released five
solo albums, namely “Girls with Guns” (1984), “What
If” (1986), “Ambition” (1987), “7 Deadly
Zens” (1998) and “The Great Divide” (2011). Shaw
has reunited with Styx since 1995. He and James “J.Y.”
Young become the only remaining members of Styx from its heyday. In
addition to Styx, Shaw also has performed with the supergroup Damn
Yankees (1989-1996, 1998-2001) and the duo Shaw Blades (1995, 2007).

On February 22, 2009, Shaw was inducted into the Alabama Music
Hall of Fame.

Currently, Shaw is married to Jeanne Mason. He previously was
married to “Cuppy” Enders and actress Pamela Donnelly,
with whom he has a daughter, Hannah Shaw (born 1987).

Alabama Native

Childhood and Family:

Tommy Roland Shaw was born on September 11, 1953, in Montgomery,
Alabama. He developed a love for music at a young age and played in a
number of local bands in his early years. He was educated at Robert
E. Lee High School.

Mr. Shaw has been married three times. He married first wife
“Cuppy” Enders in 1975, but the couple later divorced. He
then married actress Pamela Donnelly on February 15, 1986 and had a
daughter, Hannah Shaw, on July 9, 1987. They divorced later on
December 22, 1993. He married current wife Jeanne Mason on December
28, 2000.

Girls with Guns

Career:

After high school, Tommy Shaw left Montgomery, Alabama to join the
Norfolk, Nebraska based rock group The Smoke Ring as
guitarist/vocalist. Upon the group disbanded, he and some members of
the group continued under the name MSFunk in 1973 and based
themselves out of Chicago. He stayed with the band until 1975. Shaw
then returned back to Montgomery and played in a local band called
Harvest. It was while performing with the band at a bowling alley
bar that he got the call to audition for Styx, thanks to his previous
experience with MSFunk. Shaw officially joined the band in late 1975,
replacing guitarist John Curulewski who abruptly left following
Styx's move to A&M. He subsequently embarked on the group's
nationwide tour to support the 1975 album “Equinox.”

Shaw's first album with Styx, “Crystal Ball,” was
released on October 1, 1976 on A&M Records. It reached No. 66 on
the Billboard 200 and went on to be certified gold by the RIAA. The
album produced the Top 40 hit “Mademoiselle,” on which
Shaw sang the lead vocals and played harmony lead guitar solos with
James Young. The song, which Shaw wrote with Dennis DeYoung, peaked
at No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the band's third top 40
hit. Shaw also wrote the title track, which was released as the
second single from the album. The song only peaked at No. 109 on the
Billboard Hot 100.

Shaw and his bandmates returned with “The Grand Illusion”
(1977), which became Styx' breakthrough album. It peaked at No. 6 on
the Billboard 200 and went triple platinum in the US, becoming their
first record to do so. The album generated the Top 10 hit “Come
Sail Away” (1977, #8 US) and the Top 30 hit “Fooling
Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” (1978, #29), which Shaw wrote.
The follow up “Pieces of Eight” was released on September
1, 1978. Like its predecessor, the album reached No. 6 on the
Billboard 200 and went triple platinum. Shaw wrote and sang lead in
all of the three singles from the album. “Blue Collar Man
(Long Nights)” (1978), “Sing for the Day” and
“Renegade” (both 1979) respectively reached No. 21, No.
41 and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The ninth studio album “Cornerstone,” Shaw's fourth
album with Styx, was released on October 19, 1979. It rose to No. 2
on the Billboard Hot 100 and was eventually certified double platinum
by the RIAA. The album spawned the No. 1 hit single “Babe,”
which reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 8,
1979 and stayed on the post for two weeks. The song also made it to
the Top 10 on the UK Single Chart (#6). The second “Why Me”
reached No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the third and last
single “Borrow Me,” a collaboration song with lyrics by
DeYoung and music by Shaw, was a chart disappointment, peaking at No.
61 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Released on January 19, 1981, “Paradise Theater”
became the band's first and (to date) only No. 1 hit album on the
Billboard 200 and their next triple platinum release. The album
featured the Top 10 hit singles “The Best of Times” (#3
US) and “Too Much Time on My Hands” (#9), penned by Shaw.
The rock opera/concept album “Kilroy Was Here” followed
on February 28, 1983. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was a
platinum status in the US. The album produced two Top hit singles on
the Billboard Hot 100 with “Mr. Roboto” (#3) and “Don't
Let It End” (#6). After the Kilroy tour, Shaw departed the band
in 1983 to pursue solo career.

Shaw's first solo effort, “Girls with Guns,” was
released in October 1984 through A&M records. Produced by Mike
Stone, the album peaked at No. 50 on the Billboard 200. The title
track reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and
No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song appeared in a first season
episode of “Miami Vice” called “Glades.” The
second single “Lonely School” charted at No. 66 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Shaw followed his debut with “Live in Japan”
in 1985 and the second studio album “What If” in 1986.
“What If,” which Shaw produced with Richie Cannata,
gained somewhat favorable reviews and peaked at No. 87 on the
Billboard 200. The single “Remo's Theme (What If?),”
which became the theme song for the character Remo Williams in the
movie “Remo Williams: The Adventure Continues,” reached
No. 18 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and No. 81 on the Billboard
Hot 100. The third effort “Ambition” was released in
1987, with Terry Thomas from the rock band Charlie as producer. The
album yielded two hit singles with “No Such Thing,” a No.
41 hit on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, and “Ever Since the
World Began,” a No. 75 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “Ambition”
became Shaw's last solo album in over a decade.

In 1989, Shaw formed the hard rock supergroup Damn Yankees along
with Jack Blades of Night Ranger, Ted Nugent of The Amboy Dukes and
drummer Michael Cartellone. The band released a self titled debut
album on February 22, 1990. It peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200
and went double platinum in the US. The album generated five singles,
including “High Enough,” a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot
100 and a No. 2 hit on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, “Coming
of Age,” which reached the No. 1 spot on the Hot Mainstream
Rock Tracks, “Come Again” and “Runaway,” both
of which made it to the Top 10 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks.
After the release of the album, Shaw and his bandmates went on a year
and a half world tour with a revamped Bad Company, Poison and Jackyl.
Damn Yankees' second album, “Don't Tread” (1992) reached
No. 22 on the Billboard 200. It featured the Top 20 hit “Where
You Goin' Now.” After Ted Nugent's left the band in 1994, Shaw
and Blades continued to perform as the duo Shaw Blades. They released
an album called “Hallucination” on March 14, 1995 before
going on hiatus.

In 1995, Shaw returned to a reunited Styx, and appeared on a
subsequent tour with them in the following year. In 1998, Shaw
resumed his solo career by releasing the album “7 Deadly Zens”
on June 30, 1998 through CMC International. He produced the album
with Eddie Ashworth.

“Brave New World,” Shaw's first album with Styx since
1983, was released on June 29, 1999. It peaked at No. 175 on the
Billboard 200 and reached the top 10 on the Top Internet Albums
chart. It was followed by “Cyclorama” on February 18,
2003. It was the first album following the departure of group
co-founder Dennis DeYoung and was the only album released by the
Lawrence Gowan/Tommy Shaw/James Young/Glen Burtnik/Todd Sucherman
lineup. The band resurfaced in 2005 with “Big Bang Theory,”
with new bassist Ricky Phillips. The album peaked at No. 46 on the
Billboard 200.

2007 saw the release of the duo Shaw Blades' album, “Influence.”
The same year, the duo also embarked on a short tour of America in
spring and then in autumn.

Recently, on March 22, 2011, Shaw released a bluegrass solo album
titled “The Great Divide” on Pazzo Music. It charted at
No. 1 on the Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums.

“ As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the
mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and
be a band member.” Tommy Shaw